Old School RuneScape announces landmark result to player vote

Jagex has announced some groundbreaking news for fans of its iconic MMORPG, Old School RuneScape. For the first time in the game's 15-year history, the player base has voted in favour of the implementation of a new skill to the retro masterpiece.

For those who don’t know, Old School Runescape is pretty much what it sounds like. Jagex took the old, iconic MMORPG that was many gamers' first foray into the genre, and recreated it as a standalone to run alongside its modern, updated version. It came about as the result of overwhelming fan support, and Jagex has continued to place the future of Retro RuneScape in the hands of its players.

All content added to Old School Runescape has to first gain majority player approval to enter development, and the implementation of a new skill reached that and then some. Since the poll launched in December 2022, a record-breaking 190,000 players voted, with an overwhelming 80% voting in favour, moving the process to its next stage.

This Community Consultation period will put out an in-depth survey which will gather data on the player’s most desired skills. There have been a few proposed skills in the past that reached the poll stage; Sailing, Artisan and Warding. All of these failed to gain approval in the player base, but it’s possible these skills will be up for a vote this time. Otherwise, it might be other skills in the new Runescape, or even whole new ones altogether.

When the questionnaire closes on the 31st of January, the process will move onto the pitching stage, where a Community Panel of 100 lucky players will meet on Discord to give Jagex feedback on the proposed skills. All of these steps are shared with full transparency to the game's player base, with the skill scheduled to enter beta later this year.

If you want to get involved in this player-driven Valhalla, download Old School RuneScape from the App Store and Google Play now.